Dec. 2, 2024

Over 150 people sign open letters in solidarity with racialized UBC law professors, call on UBC Allard dean to commit to EDI

Words by Iman Janmohamed

A photo of the outside of UBC's Peter A. Allard Law School with with the sign at the top of the building with blue windows and brown doors.
According to The Walrus, racialized professors said they were underpaid, bullied and ignored at UBC. Isa S. You / The Ubyssey

More than 150 racialized legal academics and allies signed two open letters calling on UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law to implement equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practices.

These letters are in response to November 14 reporting by The Walrus, which alleged systemic inequities in the faculty, including the exclusion of racialized faculty members. According to The Walrus, racialized professors said they were underpaid, bullied and ignored at UBC.

The first letter, first signed by University of Alberta law school associate dean Dr. Ubaka Ogbogu, calls on Allard Law to protect Allard leadership, faculty and staff who have spoken out against the faculty from retaliation including bullying and denying professional opportunities such as promotions, tenure and funding.

The letter also asks Allard Law to publicly disclose the steps being taken to “address assessments of institutional culture at Allard,” to provide a timeline for implementing EDI-related recommendations including an independent equity audit, hiring policy review and anti-racism training.

“We remain hopeful that Allard can become a beacon of progress in the legal academy, reflecting a genuine commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion,” reads the letter. “However, meaningful change must begin with accountability and an unwavering commitment to the principles of justice that the legal profession holds dear.”

The second letter, undersigned by Third World Approaches to International Law scholars, also asks Allard to protect people who have spoken out against the faculty from retaliation, to reevaluate leadership practices and to hold the Allard administration “accountable for creating and maintaining a hostile environment for racialised faculty and students.” It also calls on the school to implement academic freedom protections as recognized by the collective agreement between faculty and UBC.

Dr. Sara Ghebremusse, a former UBC law professor and current professor at Western University who was a source for The Walrus article, said it was “incredible” to “see so many senior colleagues push for change at [UBC].”

Ghebremusse also said that while The Walrus article focuses on her experiences while at UBC, it is an experience that “resonates quite broadly with women of color faculty and with just faculty who are from underrepresented communities”

According to The Walrus reporting, law firm Southern Butler Price assessed Allard’s working culture and, after interviewing 42 faculty members, the firm described systemic discrimination and harassment at the school.

In a statement to The Ubyssey, Allard Dean Dr. Ngai Pindell said the school is aware of the open letters and is committed to “fostering a respectful environment and to upholding UBC’s policies and guidelines on academic freedom, bullying and harassment and retaliation.”

He highlighted recent initiatives to address EDI concerns including the establishment of an Allard EDI office, professorship in Race and Law and the hiring of racialized faculty members among others. Pindell did not explicitly address Ghebremusse’s concerns, and Ghebremusse said in an interview with The Ubyssey that UBC had not reached out to her after The Walrus article was published.

Moving forward, Ghebremusse said UBC should have “certain mechanisms … put in place to actually improve EDID, [equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization] in a faculty.”

“Scholars like myself should not feel like the way that we can thrive, and even just at a minimum survive, in the academe is not to leave a place like UBC.”

Iman Janmohamed

Iman Janmohamed author

Editor-in-Chief

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